This invention relates to a paper rack and particularly to a paper rack for storage and bundling of newspapers, magazines and like articles.
The current production of paper products which are accumulated and constitute a waste product has grown significantly. The disposal of such paper products has also created severe environmental problems resulting in significant attempts at recycling. Newspapers constitute a typical and significant volume of such products. The recycling of newspapers and other similar paper products has created a significant recycled paper industry. Purchasers of newspapers are encouraged to accumulate the newspapers for recycling, and various recycling centers are available which will purchase accumulated newspapers, and various social organizations run periodic paper drive collections. Recent municipal ordinances have required bundling of papers for pick-up. However, the accumulation and bundling of newspapers or like product presents a significant difficulty in the handling of the waste paper by the accumulator and the recycling industry.
Various devices have been provided within which newspapers or like products can be accumulated in reasonably neat stacks and bundled through simple tying mechanisms to provide convenient handling of stacks of the newspapers. Open box-like structures having an intermediate shelf or ledge structure, for example, are shown in the following issued U.S. Pat. Nos. 230,802 which issued Mar. 19, 1974 and 249,617 which issued Sept. 26, 1978. In addition, wood rack units are commercially available. Holst, Inc. of Tawas City, Mich. has advertised a wood rack device in a recent publication of The Saturday Evening Post and The Chef's Catalog of Denver, Colo.
Although such devices are available, they are relatively costly. Even though formed of wood or metal to provide a relatively permanent unit, such units are usually stored in garages, outdoors or the like and have a finite life requiring periodic replacement.
Although the prior art devices provide a proposed solution, the devices are not as widely received and used as necessary to fully promote and encourage the accumulation and recycling of newspapers and the like. The commercially available devices do not provide ease in secure tying of the bundle. Thus, some provide for tying in a single direction and other require pre-stringing of the bundle chamber before placing of the paper in the device.
There therefore remains a need for a simple, reliable and particularly low cost unit or device permitting convenient bundling and securement of a reasonable stack of newspapers or like product for manual handling.